As 2025 closes, Indian enterprises are crossing a decisive threshold. Across sectors, the conversation has shifted from experimenting with emerging technologies to rebuilding foundations for scale, resilience, and long-term value.
The defining theme cutting across infrastructure, software, security, sustainability, talent, and education is clear: AI is no longer an add-on; it is reshaping how enterprises are designed, governed, and operated.
At the infrastructure layer, Amit Agrawal, President, Techno Digital, observes a fundamental re-architecture underway as AI becomes the dominant workload. Compute is moving closer to data creation points, driven by latency, sovereignty, and performance requirements. Decentralized cloud, edge inference, and real-time IoT analytics are enabling millisecond responsiveness across manufacturing, logistics, telecom, and retail, making hybrid cloud-and-edge models the architectural default.
This shift is sharpening the focus on security and resilience. Pratik Shah, Managing Director, India & SAARC, F5, warns that while AI adoption is widespread, security readiness lags far behind. As agentic AI embeds itself into workflows, APIs are becoming the primary control layer, requiring continuous behavioral security, unified platforms, and early preparation for post-quantum cryptography. Resilience is no longer about preventing outages alone, but about rapid recovery and sustained trust.
Data foundations are proving equally decisive. Mayank Baid, Regional Vice President, India & South Asia, Cloudera, notes that AI’s move from pilot to production depends on unified, governed data environments. Private AI is becoming essential in regulated sectors, while AI-literate teams and disciplined ROI-driven investments will separate scalable deployments from fragmented experimentation.
This outcome-driven phase is reinforced by Amit Luthra, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India, who highlights that despite AI spending rising sharply, nearly half of Indian enterprises remain stuck in pilots. Hybrid and on-prem deployments dominate due to data sovereignty, compliance, and cost pressures, making infrastructure readiness, power availability, and transparency critical differentiators.
From a software perspective, Kalyan Kumar, Chief Product Officer, HCLSoftware, describes a non-reversible transition from experimentation to building new enterprise foundations. AI-driven cognition is moving into core operations, experience is becoming continuous and context-aware, and resilience and responsibility are now design imperatives. This shift is underpinned by next-generation compute architectures and evolving infrastructure stacks.
Leadership intent remains central. CP Gurnani, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, AIONOS, frames 2026 as the convergence of AI, quantum computing, edge intelligence, and human-centric design—urging leaders to align technology with trust, purpose, and long-term impact rather than isolated breakthroughs.
New intelligence layers are also reshaping decision-making. Agendra Kumar, Managing Director, Esri India, highlights how GIS has become core digital infrastructure, converging with AI, drones, satellites, IoT, and GeoAI to enable predictive planning and living digital twins. Complementing this, Amit Kumar, Co-Founder & COO, Suhora Technologies, points to satellite data moving from niche input to mainstream operational intelligence across agriculture, climate, infrastructure, and national security.
Across networks and platforms, Pankaj Malik, CEO, Invenia-STL Networks, emphasizes secure, high-performance digital cores built on smarter automation and resilient cloud architectures. Matthew Foxton, IDEMIA Group, adds that cryptography and quantum-ready security will underpin trusted payments, connectivity, and national digital infrastructure in the years ahead.
Enterprise AI itself is becoming more autonomous. Ganesh Gopalan, CEO, Gnani.ai, sees agentic AI moving from concept to operating layer, with small language models, multimodal voice AI, and sovereign frameworks driving precision, compliance, and real-world impact. Vivek Ganesh, OutSystems, reinforces that while AI agents will automate workflows at scale, governance, auditability, and responsible deployment will define success. Rajeev Ranjan, CTO, Atlassian, notes that AI-native development lifecycles—where AI agents support planning, coding, testing, and incident response—will soon become standard practice.
Trust and identity sit at the center of this transformation. Rohan Vaidya, CyberArk, warns that as AI agents and machine identities proliferate, identity security will become the primary control layer—critical for managing shorter certificate lifecycles, preventing outages, and acting as the ultimate kill switch for compromised AI systems.
Beyond core IT, transformation is reshaping sustainability, mobility, real estate, and education. Vasudha Madhavan, Ostara Advisors, sees climate tech shifting decisively into deployment, with biofuels, circularity, low-carbon mobility, and emissions monitoring gaining scale. Sriram Kannan, Routematic, highlights AI-led employee commute as a practical ESG lever, while Hardeep Dayal, Bhartiya Urban, notes offices evolving into productivity enablers and culture hubs rather than cost centers.
Education and talent are also being redefined. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, World University of Design, emphasizes redesigning curricula to cultivate imagination and agency, while Dr. Yajulu Medury and Anirban Ghosh, Mahindra University, point to skill-based learning, interdisciplinary education, and sustainability becoming operational priorities.
India’s GCC ecosystem reflects this broader maturity. Monica Pirgal, Bhartiya Converge, observes a shift from large cost centers to mid-sized, high-impact, AI-led GCCs. Rohit Jetly, Fidelity International, adds that India is no longer a satellite but a core pillar of global enterprise strategy, with teams here shaping platforms, governance, and responsible AI at scale. Rohit Vyas, Confluent India, concludes that the next phase of AI in India will be about scaling intelligence that is contextual, sovereign, and governed—capable of serving the country’s complexity in real time.
Prem Bhatia, co-founder & CEO of Graas.ai, notes that while 2025 saw enterprises deploy defensive AI agents focused on cost, productivity, and headcount optimisation, 2026 will mark a shift toward offensive agentic AI. These agents will actively drive revenue by improving demand forecasting, pricing intelligence, and execution across retail channels.
Alias Varghese Mangalath, Head of Engineering, Wibmo (a PayU company), highlights that trust will define the future of digital payments. As transaction volumes surge, authentication will evolve from static rules to AI-driven, context-aware security embedded seamlessly into payment experiences. Cloud-native architectures, privacy-by-design, and intelligent decisioning will shape resilient, low-friction payment ecosystems by 2026.
Harsha Solanki, VP & GM – Asia, Infobip, underscores that AI has become the core engine of customer engagement. Infobip recorded over 12.2 billion interactions globally, with RCS traffic surging 277% on Black Friday. By 2026, AI-powered agentic systems are expected to handle up to 95% of routine customer interactions, evolving from basic bots to autonomous, human-like conversational agents operating across omnichannel platforms like WhatsApp and RCS—while remaining compliant with India’s DPDP Act.
Dhruv Verma, Founder & CEO, Thriwe, believes loyalty programs are shifting from points-based models to intelligent, continuous engagement. AI-driven and agentic recommendation engines will deliver real-time, personalised rewards and nudges across touchpoints. This data-led, adaptive approach positions loyalty as a long-term driver of brand affinity and emotional connection.
Rohit Aradhya, VP & Managing Director – App Security Engineering, Barracuda Networks, stresses that cyber resilience in 2026 will be driven more by strategy than tools. As AI becomes integral to detection, response, and learning, it will act as a force multiplier against sophisticated AI-driven ransomware. He adds that in an era of AI and quantum disruption, the strongest defence will be a security-aware culture built on agility, continuous learning, and purpose-driven talent.
Prakash Ravindran, CEO & Director, InstiFI, describes 2025 as a turning point for India’s digital payments ecosystem, driven by UPI innovation, credit on UPI, RuPay adoption, and Bharat Connect. Looking ahead to 2026, digital payments will move beyond speed to become a true enabler of inclusive growth, with smarter credit pathways, interoperable infrastructure, and borderless commerce empowering businesses of all sizes.
Maurizio Garavello, SVP – APAC Region, Qlik, notes that while 2025 was marked by heavy AI experimentation, value largely remained trapped in isolated pilots. By 2026, Indian enterprises must embed AI directly into operational workflows. He emphasises a shift toward governed flexibility—balancing data integrity, security, and accountability with business-led innovation—anchored in trusted data and collective ownership.
Dr. Adnan Masood, Chief AI Architect, UST, argues that GenAI’s biggest constraint in 2025 was not model intelligence but enterprise readiness—data quality, context, and controls. In 2026, copilots will evolve into agentic systems executing AI-native workflows with compliance-by-design. Hybrid and sovereign stacks, digital twins, and multi-agent orchestration will push AI into an operating-model moment defined by governance, ROI, and accountability.
Adam Meyers, SVP – Counter Adversary Operations, CrowdStrike, warns that AI will drive a surge in zero-day vulnerabilities by accelerating code generation and automated flaw discovery. Advanced adversaries are already using AI to reduce the cost of finding and weaponising exploits. Defenders, he says, must respond with equal speed—using AI to detect, patch, and proactively hunt zero-days in real time.
Sharda Tickoo, Country Manager – India & SAARC, Trend Micro, highlights that 2026 marks AI’s transition from experimentation to core infrastructure, demanding stronger emphasis on ethical AI, transparency, and compliance. She also points to the convergence of AI and quantum computing—unlocking industrial breakthroughs while threatening current encryption standards. Enterprises that succeed will balance innovation with responsibility, treating governance as a strategic advantage.
Raghu Pareddy, CEO & Founder, Wissen Technology, believes that by 2026, enterprises will reach a turning point where technology actively shapes business outcomes rather than merely supporting them. AI will evolve from assistive tools to autonomous, decision-making systems orchestrating workflows and enabling new business models. Hybrid cloud and edge computing will unlock real-time intelligence at scale, while cybersecurity and trust frameworks become central to digital sustainability. He also stresses the need for large-scale reskilling as humans learn to collaborate with intelligent systems. Quantum-ready infrastructure, domain-specific AI, digital twins, sustainability, ethical AI, and digital sovereignty will increasingly guide enterprise technology investments.